Samburu - RS (inside tabs) - Project Idea

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Samburu - RS (inside tabs)

4 tabs pull out of the black paper bag. There is a picture on the front of each tab and journaling on the back.

Journaling the picture of Lioness reads: Back at camp we crossed a concrete bridge over a lugga. To the right was a bunch of baboons. I saw some guy running like hell across the lugga heading for a treeline. I couldn't figure out why, but he was hell bent on reaching it fast. Mike said to look to our left for the answer. A herd of elephants were about to cross the road in front of us, heading in that direction. The poor guy was running for his life before the elephants picked him up and attacked. Actually, it was funny, but not for that guy. He did make it by the way.

Tomorrow we leave Samburu. I fell in love with this area, totally unexpectedly. This river, the Uaso Nyiro, means "river of brown water". It fascinates me. It will always be special. I think most people would say it's nice for a few days, but not to stay.

We were all packed and ready to go. I was wandering around the front of the lodge having coffee and saw another Kingfisher. On the patio overlooking the river a herd of elephants moved through the brush along the far banks. Fabulous!! You'd have to be here to know what this feels like. A beautiful African fish eagle swooped down and nailed something along the shore. It was either a snake or lizard about 2 feet long. Then it landed in a tree along the shore. I continued to watch through binoculars, another followed it, and then a third. This was really exceptional. Down to the left of that tree was an opening where I'd seen the elephants. Now a reticulated giraffe wandered through the scrub...

Journaling on the back of the Cheetah picture reads:

Just before we went out on the last game drive at this place, I saw Mike at the lodge. He's heard about a cheetah in the area, so we'd look for it. He told me he was only drinking hot water so nothing could distract him for this "Duma Hunt" (cheetah). I told him to rest up for the greated game drive of his career! He's a funny guy! The cheetah had been seen in this area in the morning. As usual, I was standing as we rode around. All of a sudden, I looked off to the left side and saw what I first thought was a leopard, until I saw the head - Cheetah! My first - and favorite animal. Awesome! It was about 60 feet away and angling right across our path totally oblivious to us. Again, the light was bad. That really pissed me off. I've waited so long for this, but the Nikons were smoking - It actually wasn't dark yet, only this huge dark could. The ONLY one in the sky, pared right in front of the sun. I felt like trying to blow it away. I used a 200 mm, 400 mm and video, I got into a real frenzy . . . Mike followed, careful not to bother it, as the cat was stalking and certainly looking for prey. It walked, stopped and gazed with great concentration. Gerenuk and impala were its prey, but it wandered away and we could not follow. After about 20 minutes I spotted it again. The cheetah was on top of a huge terminte hill about 100 yards away, scanning the area. I surprised myself and Mike - good eyes! We kept a distance because it was still on the prowl for chow. Lost it again - then it came right towards us, again like we weren't even there. It passed in front of us. Way off in the distance was a herd of bachelor impala. That's what drew it. But cheetah would rather take down something without those big horns. Too much risk of injury, which would be fatal to a cheetah. As it got closer it began to exhibit the traditional crouch and stalking maneuvers. What a special experience.